I grew up seeing Chinese men showing off their bellies in Singapore whenever it was hot, which was everyday. Eventually the government outlawed it in the 1990s, classifying it as indecent exposure. But they still showed their bellies, occasionally. So I was not surprised when I saw more bellies during my time in China from 2009 to 2018. I didn’t know that they called this the “Beijing belly”, regardless of whether you are in Beijing. The Chinese government organised several public campaigns to educate the public but I think this will take a long time as this is an embedded cultural behaviour, just like spitting or throwing rubbish outside.
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